Welcome to the big state in the west. California, home to the Governator, Hollywood and big car parks disguised as freeways.
California became a U.S. territory in 1847 when Mexico surrendered it to John C. Frémont. On Jan. 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill, starting the California Gold Rush and bringing settlers to the state in large numbers. By 1964, California had surpassed New York to become the most populous state. One reason for this may be that more immigrants settle in California than any other state—more than one-third of the nation's total in 1994.
Death Valley, in the southeast has the the lowest point in the US at 282ft below sea level. Not far away Mt Whitney, at 14,491ft is the highest point in the contiguous 48 states.
Some points of interest in California include: Yosemite National Park, Disneyland, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, The Golden Gate Bridge and Napa Valley wine region. Something tells me that we'll be getting to most of those locations while we're here.
So far we've only visited San Francisco and Ridgecrest (I don't recommend including Ridgecrest if you only have a limited time in the US). We're saving our LA trip to when we'll meet family or friends out there and then will do the Disneyland and other main tourist spots. Maybe we'll even see a big celebrity out there. Still yet to meet any of them.
In April 08 Adam had to attend a conference at a Marine base just north of San Diego. We took the opportunity to spend a few days before and after the conference looking around San Diego, before driving east to Arizona and New Mexico.
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